Struggling through

Months have passed, and I got more and more familiar with my new surroundings, although I cannot say that it was fairly easy after all. Bloody COVID was just one of the reasons that made me feel miserable from time to time. As I got other bigger worries on my mind I could not always distract myself from by, for instance, leave my flat and visit or hang out with friends, I often ended up in a spiral of negativity. I usually try to be as positive as possible but obviously, life isn’t always about sunshine, happiness and laughter.

A positive side-effect of the lockdown, however, was that even small things could cheer me up; things that I so far always took as granted anyway. Who would have ever thought that especially social activities would be restricted, thanks to a pandemic? Well, thanks to online conferencing systems (Zoom, Skype, JITSI Meet, etc.), we could fortunately still get together and talk and even see each other in a way.

Although the last so-called Lockdown Lite felt kind of surreal (getting settled in a new unknown place didn’t make it easier), I managed to struggle through so far and I can conclude – after 3 quarters of a year at my new workplace – that I did not regret making the move. In fact, I have been back up North more often than I thought I would in first place.

Obviously, meeting new people outside from work during Lockdown didn’t work out too well.

However, one good reason for staying and carrying on is the great team of colleagues and the way we support, tease and cooperate with each other (a special THANK YOU shoutout goes out to you all, keep it up!)

In the near future, I will also get an assistant working alongside me in the office to help me out accomplishing certain tasks that are difficult to handle as a blind person.

I think I already mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I met a lot of people during my – more or less – daily commute to Reinecker and back home, as trains only operate hourly on this route and thus, it is not too difficult always meeting the same people from time to time. Some of them even ask where I have been so long (when I was working from home, for instance) which makes me feel more settled.

Thanks to less COVID restrictions nowadays, it is even possible again to attend meetups, make new friends and get used to other places in the nearby surroundings. Unfortunately though, I haven’t found a lot of suitable opportunities in Darmstadt yet, so I often go to Frankfurt (about 15 minutes by train) and attend meetups there.

So, how about traveling and/or future travel plans?

Well, I honestly have been traveling more than I thought I would – especially since June, when I started working and traveling with my fellow salesforce colleagues Germany-wide which is a lot of fun on both my colleagues’ and my side; we make a good team for sure! 😀

Each trip – for work or not – is like a box of surprises and sometimes quite challenging and/or annoying; however you want to call it. Nevertheless, as long as I in the end make it to the place I want to be, it won’t stop me planning future trips and team up with my colleagues.

This is it for now, but I am already working on some other posts to be published soon, so stay tuned!

Just thought it’s finally time to come up with another status update after a few Months of mainly silence. To be honest, there were some unpleasant things to deal with, one of which is my father, who tragically passed away early this year. In situations like that, I’m sure you understand that one is not always in the mood of writing stuff whereas trying to get over it, talking to family and close friends about it and eventually pick yourself up again and live on without losing your passion for life, as well as mainly positive thinking.

I sometimes don’t know myself how I handle it, but as long as it works for me this way, I shall be fine. Last but not least, thank you once again for your always very constructive feedback and your continuing encouragement to make me carry on updating my blog with future anecdotes and activities as they come up; you guys totally rock!

Cheers!